Rich Democrats Profit from Big Government

Do you know what the problem with the idle rich is? They sometimes use their idle time to think (see Millionaires to Obama: Tax us by Rachel Rose Hartman posted 11/19/2010 on Yahoo! News blog The Ticket).

More than 40 of the nation’s millionaires have joined Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength to ask President Obama to discontinue the tax breaks established for them during the Bush administration, as Salon reports.

And who are these millionaires?

The group includes many big-time Democratic donors such as Gail Furman, trial lawyer Guy Saperstein and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (pictured). The list remains open to millionaires who want to sign on.

One thing we’ve learned from government. The rich never pay their fair share of taxes. Neither will these Democrat supporters. I mean, if you’re so patriotic and loyal then just give your money to the government without the tax law forcing you. Like J.P. Morgan did during the Panic of 1907. (He used his own wealth to help shore up the banking system during a liquidity crisis). But they don’t. Why? (That’s not a rhetorical ‘why’. I would really love to hear them answer that question.)

But the key here is that they’re Democrat supporters. Supporters of Big Government. Who either profit from government (by preventing any tort reform so lawyers can continue to enrich themselves with frivolous lawsuits brought against corporate America (News Flash: McDonald’s hot coffee is hot)). Or are a bunch of rich coots that get off on telling other people how to live.

A Bankrupt City Pleads for Churches, Schools and a Hospital to Help Pay their Union Costs

A Michigan city is pleading with churches, schools and a hospital for donations to help cover its staggering budget deficit.

Gail Furman, Guy Saperstein and Ben Cohen ought to throw some of their wealth over to Mount Clemens. They could feel patriotic and loyal. And the city could really use their help. For they’ve done everything they can already.

[The Mount Clemens mayor] said the city has already drastically cut its expenses, having disbanded the police department six years ago, but still faces a $960,000 deficit that is projected to reach $1.5 million next year.

It’s always the police and fire departments that get chopped first. Not the real things bankrupting the city. Which, interestingly, they note (probably unintentionally) in the last paragraph.

The city asked its retirees to increase their health insurance deductibles, [the mayor] said, and 8 or 10 did so or switched to their spouse’s plan, saving $192,000.

It’s the same thing that’s bankrupting cities in all of ‘blue’ America. Fat union payrolls and fat union benefits for city employees. But they get rid of cops and fire fighters first because it’s a good scare tactic that usually works at the polls when trying to renew or increase a millage.

High Union Pay and Benefits do not Make NYC’s Trains any Safer

But we have to provide those fat pay and fat benefits to attract quality people to these jobs. Don’t we? You decide. Here’s yet another example of what we get for these high pay and benefits (see Subway Signal Inspections Found to Be Falsified by Michael M. Grynbaum posted 11/19/2010 on The New York Times).

Safety workers at New York City Transit falsified thousands of inspections of the track signals that direct trains in the subway system, deeming the signals safe even though those inspections had never taken place, according to an investigation by the inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Train tracks are broken down into ‘blocks’. These signals are green when a block is empty. They’re red when a train is in that block. These block signals are what keep trains from crashing into each other. So they’re kind of important. For safety.

Real railroad personnel would never do this. They take their work too seriously and have far too much pride to endanger people on their tracks. But unionized city workers are another story. It’s not about the love of railroading. But living better than other people.

Is this only an isolated incident?

It is not the first time that safety workers in the subway have been found to have falsified such inspections. A nearly identical situation was revealed by the inspector general in 2000.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is warning that any would-be commercial airline passenger who enters an airport checkpoint and then refuses to undergo the method of inspection designated by TSA will not be allowed to fly and also will not be permitted to simply leave the airport.

Welcome to airport security. By entering our line you forfeit all Fourth Amendment rights. Please remove your shoes, your belts and lift up your dresses and drop your panties. It’s all in the name of national security. Yeah, it’s good to be an ineffective bloated government bureaucracy. Power to the state, baby. The state rules!

No wonder the Nazis went from state socialism to maniacal oppressive dictatorship. It’s a rush for the corrupt in power. No doubt that if some TSA gropers are brought up on criminal charges for ‘crossing the line’ they will follow suit. I can hear them now. “I was just following orders.”

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. And Brings Down Superpowers

Those rich Democrat millionaires got it wrong. We shouldn’t be giving government more money. Or more power. That wasn’t the formula we used to become a superpower. But it is the formula that has brought down every superpower to date.